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making a whole house generator?

I can't say anything about it's quality. 30 years ago my brothers and I had one of a similar type to run a grain dryer. It was 20 kva and cost about $2000, we ran it with a pto.

That is a lot more generator than a house hold would need.
 
20kw is plenty big generally speaking the genset end are fairly sturdy even in the chinese ones. it seems they tend to cheap out more on the engine end of things
 
most houses that aren't using all electric can get by with smaller than 10. I have an ooold 6kw which is underated and it will pull everything I have. If you can get by with 6kw it seems to be the sweet spot for power/economy.
 
x2... Look for "low speed" diesel engine gensets, as in less than 1,800 rpm diesels. "Lister" or "Listeroids" run below 900 rpm, made in India but can be sourced in the U.S. -- are field serviceable, heavy like s**t and are the choice for longevity. Changfa diesels come in different sizes but run at much higher rpms, are made in China but can also be sourced in the U.S. The generators are another story. The made in China ST series (your original post's link is one, I believe) come in small to large kW sizes, heavy like s**t and are, probably, the most robust out there if "minor" mods are done before use (e.g., repack bearings with high quality grease). Stay away from AVR (automatic voltage regulator) if you want longevity.
 
Biggest thing is powering it. 20Kw is plenty. I hooked up a PTO driven 25KW for a friend the other day after some storms rolled through. You need to have a safe way to hook it to your panel. Buy a properly sized 2 pole breaker and come off it with a 12' whip of SJO cable into a plug that you can plug the generator up to the panel with. Then when the power goes out you turn the main breaker off so you don't feed the transformer at the road. Here's an example of one for sale in my area: http://charlotte.craigslist.org/grd/2314420334.html

But theres plenty of options for what you can do. If you have questions let me know, I'm an electrician so I do this stuff alot.
 
We're doing away, completely, with transfer switches and having our utility cut the feed cables from the power pole during an extended blackout (I know, extreme sounding). Am running one dedicated 110V outlet to each room (coloured face plate) from a stand-alone distribution panel that will be fed by our diesel genset. We have a 12 HP single cylinder driving a 3.5kW generator... may upgrade to a 6 or 7 kW, but will run as is for now and will have to closely monitor the load.
 
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